The federal government is expanding its presence in the Denver metro with a new $228M food lab.
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The lab, which will include 16,500 SF of lab space for microbiology and 14K SF for chemistry work, is being built at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, just southwest of Denver, near Kipling Street and West Sixth Avenue.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and General Services Administration broke ground on the new facility on Wednesday, the two agencies said in a news release.
The lab will operate as a regional facility to “strengthen food safety for the Midwest,” according to the FDA and GSA, which provides shared services and procurement for the federal government. The building will also be the FDA’s only Biosafety Level 3 facility west of the Mississippi River.
“The new laboratory will expand FDA’s research capability to manage foodborne illness outbreaks and ensure product safety for food, drugs and cosmetics,” the agencies said in the release. “This leading-edge facility not only replaces an aging, outdated workspace but also updates the Denver lab with a 21st-century operations capability that will make it a critical hub for generations to come.”
Construction of the lab is expected to be complete in early 2029.
The Denver Federal Center is a 600-acre campus that houses facilities for 28 federal agencies, including the FDA, Department of Agriculture, U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Land Management. The campus, which the federal government acquired in 1941, includes about 4M SF of office and research facilities across approximately 44 buildings, according to the city of Lakewood.
It isn’t clear how many people will work out of the new lab. The GSA didn’t respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
The groundbreaking comes despite conflicts between Colorado and the Trump administration.
The Centennial State and the Trump administration haven’t seen eye to eye on several topics, including immigration enforcement, gun control, the pardoning of former Mesa County Elections Clerk Tina Peters, who was released from prison earlier this month, and funding for food stamps and medical research.
